STARS - Various Artists

YEAR: 1977

LABEL: K-Tel

TRACK LISTING: The Things We Do For Love - 10cc, Rich Girl - Hall & Oates, Year of the Cat - Al Stewart, Torn Between Two Lovers - Mary MacGregor, A Little Bit More - Dr. Hook, Love Me - Yvonne Elliman, So Into You - Atlantic Rhythm Section, Devil Woman - Cliff Richard, Slow Dancin' Don't Turn Me On - Addrisi Brothers, I'm Your Boogie Man - K.C. & the Sunshine Band, Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel (Pt. 1) - Tavares, Don't Leave Me This Way - Thelma Houston, Cool Town - Stanky Brown Group, The World Is A Ghetto - War, Theme from "Roots" - Quincy Jones, Hard Luck Woman - Kiss, Tryin' To Love Two - William Bell, Couldn't Get It Right - Climax Blues Band

IMPRESSIONS: In our last episode, we discovered the magic that was K-Tel and were left with the burning question: What did I eat for lunch that's affecting me like this? Be that as it may, STARS was the next K-Tel record I bought after HIT MACHINE; this was after moving from Maple Surple to our new house in Clay Town. I was all of 11 years old. I remember spinning this record many times on my portable black record player that folded up like a suitcase; especially because my favourite song at the time was on it: Thelma Houston's "Don't Leave Me This Way". Of course, these were the editted radio versions of the singles; however I still have a soft spot in my heart for some of these songs which aren't exactly too great but give me an incredible rush of nostalgia. It's also hysterical to me that K-Tel seems to have shoved some really OLD songs (at the time) onto their records both here and on HIT MACHINE. On STARS, War's "The World Is A Ghetto" is from the early 70s and Paul Anka's cheesefest "(You're) Having My Baby" was from 1974 and appears on the 1976 HIT MACHINE album. Ha!

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: The Things We Do For Love - 10cc, Rich Girl - Hall & Oates, Year of the Cat - Al Stewart, So In To You - Atlantic Rhythm Section, Devil Woman - Cliff Richard, I'm Your Boogie Man - K.C. & the Sunshine Band, Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel (Pt. 1) - Tavares, Don't Leave Me This Way - Thelma Houston, The World Is A Ghetto - War, Hard Luck Woman - Kiss, Couldn't Get It Right - Climax Blues Band

FACT SHEET: Once again, nothing really to say here. This is a K-Tel Records LP released in 1977.

HOW DARE YOU! - 10cc

YEAR: 1976

LABEL: Mercury

TRACK LISTING: How Dare You, Lazy Ways, I Wanna Rule the World, I'm Mandy Fly Me, Iceberg, Art For Art's Sake, Rock 'n' Roll Lullaby, Head Room, Don't Hang Up

IMPRESSIONS: This is the "other" major 10cc album, along with "THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK" (mentioned elsewhere on this blog), during my childhood years. Altogether stronger as a cohesive album than the earlier one, HOW DARE YOU! features the odd characters and situations typical of 10cc songs along with the cracked rhythms which are impossible to dance to. Each song is like a mini-movie and the final track "Don't Hang Up" is a mini-opera on the level of their previous album's masterpiece "Une Nuit a Paris (One Night in Paris)" featuring many melded melodies and tempi. The four gentlemen in 10cc wrote songs more for the brain than the groin.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: I Wanna Rule the World, I'm Mandy Fly Me, Iceberg, Art For Art's Sake, Rock 'n' Roll Lullaby, Don't Hang Up

FACT SHEET: HOW DARE YOU! is 10cc's fourth album; it is the final 10cc album to contain the classic lineup of Eric Stewart, Graham Gouldman, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The front and back cover art is by Hipgnosis; the same man and woman are seen in the background of all four cover "panels". "I'm Mandy Fly Me" refers to a contemporary National Airlines ad campaign; Eric Stewart changed the name to "Mandy". The intro to "I'm Mandy Fly Me" features an excerpt from earlier 10cc song "Clockwork Creep" meant to sound as if emanating from a small transistor radio.

THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK - 10cc

YEAR: 1975

LABEL: Mercury

TRACK LISTING: Une Nuit a Paris, I'm Not In Love, Blackmail, The Second Sitting for the Last Supper, Brand New Day, Flying Junk, Life Is A Minestrone, The Film of My Love

IMPRESSIONS: One more iconic childhood album from my parents' record collection I listened to endlessly; primarily due to the presence of one of the greatest songs ever written: the incredibly complex 8 minute "mini-operetta" which opens the album called "Une Nuit a Paris (One Night In Paris)". The melody to this song was actually lifted by Andrew Lloyd Webber for his overture to his 1986 musical "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA". Side One continues with the monster hit everyone knows "I'M NOT IN LOVE" which shockingly only reached #2 on the US charts (though it made #1 in England). Side One concludes with the wonderfully sleazy "BLACKMAIL"; a perfect first album side. Side Two is not as strong but it does contain the hilarious album closer "THE FILM OF MY LOVE" and the minor single "LIFE IS A MINESTRONE" which was inspired by Eric Stewart and Lol Creme mishearing (in true mondegreen fashion) a BBC radio announcer say something which sounded like "life is a minestrone" but most probably wasn't anything close.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Une Nuit a Paris, I'm Not In Love, Blackmail, Brand New Day, The Film of My Love

FACT SHEET: THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK is 10cc's third album and the first on new label Mercury; who signed the group for $1 million five album deal on the strength of one song: "I'M NOT IN LOVE". The album reached #3 in the UK and #15 in the US. The intricate album art was drawn by Humphrey Ocean and finished by Hipgnosis. 10cc consists of the quartet Kevin Godley, Lol Creme, Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart. And no, this album is not the soundtrack to anything; that's just the title, mate.